Family Tradition
by Madj
Summary: John couldn’t help but feel annoyed at her presence.


**Title:** Family Tradition

**Rating:** PGish

**Summary:** "John couldn't help but feel annoyed at her presence."

**Category:** John/Teyla fluff

oOo

There was a mermaid on his pier.

Teyla was stretched out and leaning on toned arms, face tilted into the sun like a goddess enjoying the worship of its rays. The shiny blue-green of her one-piece swimsuit glittered almost like scales in the warm light, and if he squinted, he could imagine a fin in place of her legs, hanging over the edge of the pier.

As lovely as she looked, John couldn't help but feel annoyed at her presence. This was his spot, the place he could retreat to and get away from all his problems and worries.

Or, rather, the place he could come to brood about his problems without being interrupted.

As he stood, wavering on whether to join her or to try to find another secluded place, his teammate turned her head lazily and smiled at him. As always, the smile did funny things to his insides, and he felt incapable of movement. _Mermaid, nothing. Siren is more like it._

"It is wrong," she said ruefully, "to enjoy myself at Rodney's expense, I suppose."

Something in John relaxed at her words. She was here to take a break, not to try to cheer him up or absolve him of his responsibilities. As long as she wasn't here to lecture him, he could stand to have a gorgeous companion in his secret retreat. Teyla in a swimsuit was something no sane man could pass up.

"Nah," he answered her, dropping his bag at his side and pulling his shirt off. "I have fun at Rodney's expense all the time."

Teyla rolled her eyes and turned back into the sun, a small smile on her face. "I am sorry he is ill, but I admit I welcome the chance for a break," she said.

He stretched out next to her, mirroring her pose. They sat in companionable silence, with just the wind and the sound of the ocean surrounding them, but it didn't take long for John's ghosts to catch up with him.

"_You don't understand, Colonel," Dr. Cooper said earnestly, one hand gripping his arm. "I know there are risks in Pegasus, but what scientist would back away from risks when they have the chance to make such great discoveries?"_

_John sighed. The botanist had been stalking him ever since he'd arrived on Earth for a conference with some of the military higher-ups two days before. She looked about 15 years old, but according to her supervisors she was one of the brightest in her field. And she wanted a shot at studying the Pegasus galaxy's plants. "McKay thinks --"_

"_Dr. McKay thinks I'm too young, I know. But I'm older than some of your soldiers," she pleaded. "And I'm not going there to fight, only to study plant life! It couldn't be more safe."_

_He sighed again, then nodded. "I'll talk to McKay," he promised. _

"Is something wrong?" Teyla asked.

"Mmm, no, just thinkin'," he said. He nodded toward the water. "So, you gonna go in?"

"Perhaps," she said. "It is cold, though."

They lapsed back into silence.

"I never cease to be amazed at this ocean," Teyla said, before he could start brooding again. "We had nothing like it on Athos. At least, not within the range of my people."

"We have several oceans on Earth. But no cities right on the water like this."

"We had a large lake," Teyla said slowly, a half-smile on her face. She didn't speak about Athos that often, and John assumed that the memories were just too painful to talk about. Since he had more than a few of those in his past, he never pushed her to talk about it. "We had a custom ... On harvest days, we would work all day in the hot sun. As our work finished, we would go to the lake and wash it all away. Good day or bad, plentiful harvest or not, it would all be cleansed so we might start fresh the next day."

"We have that custom, too," John said. "It's called bathing."

She slapped him on the arm halfheartedly. "We bathe as well, Colonel. This is different. It is ... ceremonial. It is something that has been done for years."

She turned her head to look at him. "That is something I find puzzling about your people. You have few customs, traditions of the past. Do you not find it important to honor those who came before you?"

"Hey," he said, offended. "We've got traditions. Like ... Super Bowl Sunday, for example. Or leaving cookies for Santa Claus, or ..."

"Ceremonies to honor the dead?" she asked quietly.

He swallowed hard. _"It couldn't be more safe."_ He wasn't touching that one. "You know what? There's one custom from **my** childhood you might find interesting." He pushed himself to his feet. "It's called the cannonball."

Teyla squinted up at him. "Cannonball?"

He nodded and backed up a few steps, taking a deep breath. "Observe." Running for the edge, he jumped, pulling himself into a ball before crashing into the water, making a huge splash. The water was cold, just as Teyla had said, but the sound of her shriek made the shock of it worthwhile.

By the time he made it back to the surface, Teyla was in the water with him, splashing in his face, setting off a water war that ended some time later with both sprawled back on the dock, soaked and laughing.

"You will have to show that ... cannonball to Jinto," Teyla said finally.

John grinned. "Every kid should know it." He thought back to his early teen years, when he and his buddy Andy would spend hot summer days at the community pool, splashing every pretty girl they could find. He looked over at Teyla, who was wringing water out of her hair. Apparently he hadn't changed much from that stupid kid.

Teyla stood up, drawing her bag toward her and taking out a towel. "I have to finish my report for Dr. Weir before dinner," she said, drying off. "Thank you for letting me use your pier."

He yanked his eyes off her legs, which he'd been a heartbeat away from offering to help dry off. "My ..."

"I know you come here to be alone," she said seriously. "I have a favor to ask of you."

John saw Dr. Danielle Cooper in his mind's eye, begging for his help. _"It couldn't be more safe."_

"What kind of favor?" he asked.

"I want you to talk to Major Lorne," she said. "The loss of Dr. Cooper has been hard on him. He obviously blames himself."

John rolled to his feet. He thought of the last time he'd seen the young scientist alive, brimming with excitement over some plant or another. And he thought of how he'd kind of blown her off to go hang out with Ronon. It was only the next day that he'd had to go to help dig her body out of a freak mudslide Lorne's team had run into on MIK-362. They were lucky to only lose one person, he'd told Lorne and Elizabeth. But that didn't stop him from adding Cooper to the names scrawled in the back margins of his copy of "War and Peace," his list of losses and mistakes, everyone from Sumner to Ford and now Cooper. His responsibilities, his sins, his burden to carry.

When he didn't answer, Teyla stepped right in front of him. She waited until he looked her in the eye before she continued. "It is true that Dr. Cooper was his responsibility, however, no man can control the weather. It could have happened to anyone."

"I brought her here," he hissed, before he could stop himself. He hadn't meant to say it, but he knew she wasn't only talking about Lorne, anyway. "She was just a kid."

"She was a grown woman," Teyla corrected him. "She chose this, knowing the dangers, just as you did. Just as Major Lorne did. Allow her the dignity of her own decisions."

He nodded slowly. "I'll talk to Lorne."

"Thank you," she said, wrapping the towel around her waist and grabbing her bag. She headed toward the city but turned back. "One more thing, John --" With a hard shove, she sent him flying into the water.

He came up, spluttering, to find her laughing at him. "That was for your cannonball," she said smugly, heading for the doors.

John snorted and swam toward the ladder. Much to his surprise, he was grinning, and he felt somehow lighter. He glanced toward his teammate, who was nearly inside.

Mermaid, siren, angel on his shoulder.

He pulled a towel out of his bag and started to dry off. Having Teyla looking after him was a tradition he wouldn't mind getting used to at all.

End


End file.
